Nationally ranked No. 10 Dartmouth tallied its first win of the season last Saturday at Scully-Fahey Field. The University of New Hampshire Wildcats (1-1) fell to the Big Green women's lacrosse team for the 11th consecutive time in recent years. Ten minutes and 30 seconds into the first half, the Wildcats led 2-1 until the Lady Green retaliated with 11 straight goals to secure a 13-3 victory.
Dartmouth junior and Colorado native Annie Leibowitz netted the first goal six minutes and 53 seconds into the game.UNH answered back two minutes later with a pair of goals by Laura Dosdall and Katie Leland.
But Dartmouth was not about to let the Wildcats roar. The Big Green offense charged the net with six more goals before the end of the first half.
Senior Katieanne Christian scored two goals along with single markers by freshmen Kristen Barry, sophomore Whitney Douthett and senior co-captain Sarah Sanborn.
The defense led by senior co-captain Erin Osborn and juniors Lizzy Cuneo and Andrea Smith remained strong, shutting down the Wildcats for the remainder of the game. Head Coach Amy Patton, now in her 13th season, credited Leah Skypeck '05 for defending the Wildcats' top offensive threat, Jess Burnap. Burnap, under Skypeck's watch, remained scoreless for the rest of the game.
Junior goal-keeper Devon Wills, twice first team All-Ivy, led the rock-solid defense with 13 saves, 10 of which were in the second half of play.
Patton commented, "UNH is a strong team. We took them out of it early, though. I was impressed with our transition games. We controlled the temp and caused a lot of turnovers."
The second half opened up with a flurry of five Dartmouth goals, eight minutes and 13 seconds into play. Christian, with a pair of goals less than two minutes apart, finished with four for the afternoon.
Christian enters her senior season as Dartmouth's leading returning scorer with 27 goals and seven assists along with a second team All-Ivy honor for the 2004 season.
Douthett, also a member of the Big Green varsity soccer team, scored her second goal of the game followed by Leibowitz. The 11-2 lead was further increased as junior Casey Hazel scored her first goal of the season with 21:44 on the clock.
UNH's Jill Albee scored the Wildcats' third and final goal of the game with 13:18 left to play before junior Kristen Zimmer secured the win with Dartmouth's 13th and final goal.
Zimmer led the Big Green with 50 ground balls and was third on the squad with 21 draw controls last season. Hopefully the Big Green's spectacular performance will be repeated on Thursday when it faces Albany at 3:00 p.m. at Scully-Fahey Field.
